Understanding Human Cytomegalovirus Pathogenesis: Evidence from the Clinic and Laboratory Models

Dear Colleagues,

Infection with human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) causes a significant health burden in multiple different clinical settings worldwide and, as such, the development of vaccines and novel treatment strategies for HCMV disease is deemed a very high priority. Generally, primary infection with HCMV is asymptomatic but still results in the establishment of a lifelong infection due to its ability, common to all herpes viruses, to establish a latent infection. Therefore, it is important to understand how to mitigate the impact of primary infection, reinfection, and reactivation of the latent virus in different clinical settings when developing new strategies and therapeutics for the control of HCMV in order to prevent its pathogenesis.  

The interaction of HCMV with the host is a dynamic process involving interactions at the individual cellular level (e.g., viral entry, establishment of latency, and reactivation) and at the systemic level where the immune response plays an essential role in determining the pathogenic outcome of infection and reactivation of the virus. This is evidenced by both the magnitude of immune evasion mechanisms encoded by HCMV and the outcomes seen in patients with diminished immune responses (e.g., in congenital infections or in immunosuppressed transplant patients). In this Pathogens Special Issue, we invite the submission of manuscripts that provide novel insights regarding our understanding of the elements of the immune response needed to control HCMV infection and reactivation and that address the molecular basis by which HCMV evades immune recognition to persist in the host. We welcome studies in the form of original research articles, reviews, or case reports from both human cell and clinical studies and pertinent animal models that inform our knowledge of the pathogenesis of HCMV.

Dr. Mark R. Wills
Dr. Sarah Jackson
Guest Editors

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• human cytomegalovirus (HCMV)
• latency and reactivation
• anti-viral immune responses
• viral immune evasion
• virus–host interaction and pathogenesis
• congenital CMV
• transplantation